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Spokeo vs Intelius

To help you find the Best People Search, TopConsumerReviews.com provides you with an in-depth comparison of Spokeo and Intelius.

To see ALL of our reviews for the Best People Search, please Click Here

What is the Best People Search? Whether you're looking for an old romantic interest, trying to get information about a new neighbor or customer, or hoping to find your childhood best friend, today's digital world has many tools you can use to track people down.

Of course, not all People Search resources are the same. Some rely on databases that are easily used for free by the average person, while the best services scour the internet - using public records information, social media platforms, and even criminal and legal reports - to determine as much as possible about the person you're seeking.

People Search Reviews

Spokeo has surprisingly accurate preliminary information when it comes to People Search results. We entered both an email address and a mobile number, and each search correctly matched with the person we were searching for. We were able to see the current location of the phone: an impressive feat, given that it was an out-of-state number. Also, the email gave us the person's Facebook account and her full name, both accurately.

When doing a People Search by name, we had to do a little more digging to get to the right match for our target person - but, once again, Spokeo had the right match. There was one piece of incorrect information that we could find (a related person who wasn't actually connected), but everything else was spot on.

You can take advantage of a 7-day Spokeo membership trial at no cost, though you may have to purchase one of their one-time reports to access that free trial (for example, the $0.95 report for one phone number).

Otherwise, what will you spend to use Spokeo, and what will you get for it? That's where things start to get a little murky. Their FAQ says that you have to go through the purchase process in order to select what features your plan will have. Why not just tell prospective customers upfront?

In digging around, we found that you'll get ample information in the basic monthly subscription, from addresses to social media accounts. But, two things are worth noting, because they're a big departure from similar services: you have to pay an extra fee if you also want searches of court records or historical records (such as birth records, marriage records, or death records), and you do not get unlimited searches in your monthly plan. Again, Spokeo says you have to get to the purchase page in order to see how many searches you get; customer reviews indicate that it's about 100/month on most plans.

In our searches, Spokeoreturned extremely accurate information. They hold an "A+" rating at the Better Business Bureau. But, we don't think most customers will appreciate having to give up their credit card information in order to find out how much they'll spend in the long run. If you're intrigued by what you find in a preliminary People Search using this provider, it might be worth paying for the one-time report to see what else you can find. Just don't forget to cancel before your free trial ends, if you want to avoid any monthly membership fees.

$19.95/month for unlimited searches; may have offer of $9.95 for the first month

$19.95 for a 24-hour People Search Passv

$49.95 for a one-time report

Intelius has been on the market for many years. As part of the PeopleConnect brand family, they share an "A" rating at the Better Business Bureau with sister companies US Search and Classmates. At Intelius, you'll find services such as background checks, people search, identity theft protection, and reverse phone lookup.

You may have a frustrating experience when trying to use the Intelius site for your People Search. When we first tried to enter a name to search, the site gave us error messages after several tries. As directed by the site, we then called Intelius' toll-free number to get help. It wasn't very reassuring to get an automated response that thanked us for getting in touch with "Customer Service" - no mention of a company name or any other identifying details. We were then connected to a representative who said we should try again in at least an hour. A few hours after we first tried to use the People Search, we were finally able to enter a few names.

But, our experience still didn't improve. As we searched for different people, we got different pricing options. Some names gave us the options listed at the top of our review: $19.95 to $49.95. But, when we searched for other people, we were given the choice between a $39.95 one-time report, or we could opt into the "Premier Plus" plan. That latter option was even more confusing: "Try Intelius Premier Plus, and if you cancel within the first 7 days and have not yet used a background check voucher you pay only $7.95. Otherwise, you will receive 1 background check voucher per month and be charged $29.95 each month you remain a member. Each voucher will expire in 30 days, if not used."

Finally, when we clicked to exit the site, we received a last pop-up offer of $24.95 for a single People Search. If you wind up using Intelius for your own search, keep an eye out for extra savings that may come up on your screen too.

Intelius says that you can expect these details in your People Search results:

Marriage & Divorce records

Contact information

State Criminal Check

Relatives

Liens

Bankruptcies

Lawsuits

Judgments

Aliases

However, in contrast with their competitors, Intelius doesn't offer you the chance to determine if the People Search report you're buying is an accurate match. When we put in the name and city/state of our search target, we were taken right to the "buy report" screen. We weren't comfortable with spending the money in the hopes that Intelius had found the right person; imagine if you were looking for a common name like "Emma Brown" and had no way of knowing if your report had found an 80-year-old widow or a 20-something college grad?

Intelius has enjoyed a long-term history within the People Search industry. But, this established reputation isn't sufficient to compete with other providers, especially when trying to decide if the search has actually found the right person before investing your money. We think you'll probably have a more satisfying - and affordable - experience with a more robust People Search provider, and we encourage you to consider one of the higher-ranked services in our review.

There are a few caveats to using People Search providers. First, any service you choose will probably require you to confirm that you won't use any information you find to screen tenants, hire or fire employees, or to determine a consumer's credit or insurance coverage. These are all requirements based on the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).

Also, the majority of the databases used to return search results are developed by computers that search the internet for records. In other words, there's not much human oversight to make sure that records are current, matched to the right person (especially with common names), or 100% accurate. For that reason, you should take any results you get from a People Search service as a helpful suggestion or possibility, not a guarantee of someone's location or contact information.

While considering the different People Search providers, here are several criteria to keep in mind:

Reputation. What do past and current users have to say about the People Search service? Are the results accurate or outdated? Is the company rated and/or accredited by the Better Business Bureau?

Information. How much can you find out using this provider? Does it give you details you could have found on your own for free, or will it give you in-depth information that most people wouldn't know how to access? Does the search look for people's social media accounts, or is it limited primarily to public records?

Cost. What will you spend to get the information you want? Can you buy a single report for a one-time search, or do you have to pay for a subscription? Does the People Search service offer a free or reduced-price trial?

TopConsumerReviews.com has reviewed and ranked the best People Search services available today. We hope these reviews help you find the person you';re looking for, quickly and affordably!

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